Gender, religion and identity: discursive constructions of ‘non-veiling’ among non-veiled Malaysian Muslim women

ABSTRACT

This paper examines the link between language, identity, religion, and gender through a study of discursive identity construction among non-veiled Muslim women in Malaysia. Informed by Feminist Poststructuralist Discourse Analysis (FPDA), this paper further explores the ways through which these women attempt to negotiate and/or subvert their positions of powerful and powerless within interrelated religious and gendered Discourses, which are collectively grouped under the ‘Discourses of non-veiling’. As the veil is regarded as an important signifier of a Muslim woman’s identity, the discussions revolving around this symbolic piece of clothing and the identity of the wearer elicits responses that showcase a diversity of perspectives. By utilising a discursive and linguistic lens, this study therefore seeks to contribute to the emerging body of work on language, religion, and identity.

KEYWORDS:

• Identity
• religion
• gender
• Islam
• veil
• feminist poststructuralist discourse analysis

Acknowledgements

The author would like to thank Prof. Dr. Stephanie Schnurr from the University of Warwick for her kind input and patience in helping me write this paper.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Ethics statement

In accordance with departmental Centre for Applied Linguistics and University of Warwick’s ethics regulations, I submitted an ethics approval form detailing amongst other things the steps taken to ensure the confidentiality of participant identities and information proffered are safeguarded. The interview participants signed an Informed Consent Form that ensured their anonymity, among other ethical considerations that included their consent to publish the interview data for academic purposes.

Notes

1 Otherwise known as ‘hijab’, the veil in Malaysia is also commonly referred to as ‘tudung’ (literally, a ‘cover’). In this article, these terms are used interchangeably and are used to refer to the headscarf that covers the entirety of the woman’s head and hair, which can extend down to cover her bosom. A practice of covering most commonly associated with the Islamic faith, most Muslims believe that the hijab is religiously ordained by God, by typically referring to two verses (ayah/ayat) of two separate chapters (surah) in the Quran – Surah al-Nur (verses 30–31) and Surah al-Ahzab (verse 59) (Hoodfar 1992).

2 The Malays constitute the majority of the Bumiputera (literally, ‘princes of the soil’). The remainder of the population include the Chinese, Indians, the Orang Asli, and the indigenes of the East Malaysian territories of Sabah and Sarawak (the latter of which are also grouped as the Bumiputera).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Farhana Abdul Fatah

Farhana Abdul Fatah is a senior lecturer at the School of Languages, Literacies and Translation, Universiti Sains Malaysia. Her PhD thesis examined the discursive identity constructions among Malaysian Muslim women who do not veil. Her primary research interests in linguistics revolve around identity, gender, religion, and ethnicity, as well as on popular media such as television, films, and videogames.